Ringette Canada today announced it has selected the cities of Charlottetown and Summerside, in partnership with Ringette PEI, as hosts for the 2019 Canadian Ringette Championships. The 2019 event will be the 41st national championships for the sport and represents the second time that Prince Edward Island has hosted, with Charlottetown hosting the event in 2009.

"We were impressed by the bid made by the Charlottetown, Summerside and Ringette PEI hosting committee and are confident they will showcase our sport with a memorable event for our athletes and fans," said Natasha Johnston, Executive Director, Ringette Canada. "We would like to congratulate them on being selected and look forward to working with this group to deliver an outstanding event in 2019."

The event will be held from April 7-13, 2019 and will see between 40 and 48 teams from across the country competing in three divisions – U16, U19 and the National Ringette League (NRL) division (19+). It is expected the event will bring in over 3,000 visitors to the region; the 2017 Championships in Leduc, Alberta generated $5.1M in economic activity. Sport tourism is a $6.5 billion economic engine in Canada and remains one of the fastest growing segments of the Canadian tourism industry.

In June of 2016, the City of Charlottetown and the City of Summerside formed a partnership and developed strategic priorities to increase the impact of sport tourism, strengthen both cities as sport tourism destinations and leverage the hosting reputations and capacities of each municipality. One of the goals of the partnership was to jointly bid on high impact signature sport tourism events that the cities don’t have the infrastructure or funding capacity to bid on individually. While the cities have co-hosted a number of high profile events in the past, the 2019 Canadian Ringette Championships will represent the first joint hosting opportunity under the newly minted partnership.

"The City of Charlottetown is thrilled to be welcoming the Canadian Ringette Championships back to the capital city in 2019, and we look forward to co-hosting this high-profile event with our neighbours in Summerside as part of our recently adopted event hosting partnership," said Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee. "The Championships have grown significantly in both size and scope since they were last hosted in Charlottetown and are sure to bring much economic and tourism prosperity to our city during the shoulder tourism season."

"Summerside is honored and extremely excited to be selected as a co-host community of the Canadian Ringette Championships in April of 2019," expressed Summerside Mayor Bill Martin "This event will add tremendous economic value to our business sector and will showcase the sport of ringette and the hundreds of ringette athletes to the Prince County Region."

"Strategically, the Ringette PEI Board of Directors view the 2019 Canadian Ringette Championships as a key initiative to ensure the continued growth of our sport within our province. Since Ringette PEI last hosted the Championships, we’ve more than doubled our growth in player registrations." said Ringette PEI President Mike James. "Hosting the 2019 Championships is a cohesive endeavour, and as such will include the participation of all club associations across the province."

The 2018 championships will be held in Winnipeg, Manitoba from April 8-14, 2018.

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About RingetteRingette is a Canadian sport that was invented in 1963 in North Bay, Ontario by the late Sam Jacks. There are currently over 30,000 players on nearly 2,000 teams across Canada, with over 1,500 officials and nearly 8,000 coaches. Internationally, it is played in more than a half a dozen other countries around the world. Ringette has been designated a Heritage Sport by Sport Canada and as part of the Sport for Life movement, ringette is well advanced at adapting Sport Canada’s Long Term Athlete Development model. For more information, please refer to the Ringette Canada Web site at www.ringette.ca.

About Ringette PEIRingette PEI is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and developing the sport of ringette across the province. One of the fastest growing provincial associations in the country, Ringette PEI oversees teams at all levels in Charlottetown, Summerside, Montague, Souris, and Rustico. The organization also has programs for high performance ringette players to further develop their talent.

About CharlottetownA flourishing coastal destination of 36,000 (metropolitan area: 70,000), Charlottetown is the capital city of Prince Edward Island and ‘Birthplace of Confederation’. A premiere event hosting destination and winner of 4 Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance PRESTIGE Awards, Charlottetown launched its nationally recognized sport tourism initiative SCORE in 2005 to expand the lucrative sport tourism industry within the city; sport tourism is now worth an estimated $43M annually to the Charlottetown economy.

About SummersideSummerside is a seaside community of 14,800 (metropolitan area: 16,500) and is the hub of services and activity in western Prince Edward Island. A recognized small market leader in event hosting, Summerside recently introduced Sport Entertainment Tourism Summerside (SETS) to expand its efforts and capitalize on the many social, sport, and economic benefits related to sport tourism. Summerside estimates sport and event tourism contributes $10M in annual economic impact to the destination.